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Tuz_Not_Tuzz

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i've been mightily impressed by the craft ale boom in the uk on my visits over the last 15 years or so, but it seems a combination of factors has fucked over the industry never mind the header (this is not a political post, hence being in general conversation), brexit, pandemic, tax, shortage of co2 etc.
Probably not popular with the hardcore camra men, but one of my pals is a major investor in brewdog, so i always pop in there when i'm in the smoke.
Over here in CA we're having issues with major breweries taking over smaller indy brewers and ruining things.

www.theguardian.com

‘It all disappeared with Brexit’: Craft beer boom ends as more than 100 UK firms go bust

More than a hundred breweries have shut in the past two years as new trade barriers were compounded by Covid and tax changes
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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Well, BrewDog's antics have hardly helped the sector, have they?
But ultimately, busts are what happens to booms 95% of the time. I'm sure there's also been a thorough shake-out of the endless gin brands of recent years, and vodka before that.
Part of the issue is clever clogs with big beards trying to be different for different's sake – which frequently translates into 'just not very nice', so punters vote with their wallets. Folk not buying much £10 a can shite is hardly a surprise, mind.....
 
Had an interesting chat with a rep from the UK working for a German firm, getting their things into the pubs here. He told me that the craft demographic was built to fail and he wouldn't go near them - they don't have any money and they're not real drinkers. A real 'session' might be three pints and never the same one twice. Pumpkin/Strawberry Macho8 Ace doesn't lend itself to a regular drinker. It's too exclusive to live.

As opposed to Europe, a regular will pick a brand and stick with it all evening.
 
HughJanus said:
Draught beer deteriorates quite quickly so it should be drunk in large quantities at every opportunity
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Which is why most 'craft' beer is kegs and cans.

(Often with labels that make the original alcopops packaging positively adult-targeted. But that's another gripe altogether....)
 
TopFox said:
(Often with labels that make the original alcopops packaging positively adult-targeted. But that's another gripe altogether....)
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But that's the level of saturation they've achieved, they're forced to do that to get noticed - you have to stand out on the shelf. Your 'market' is ten square city blocks before you get buried in the competition.
 
I love drinking new and different beers. I started in lockdown and have carried on.

That said I try to avoid anything over 5% and I still stick to the low 4%’s if I can.

You can do the Bermondsey Beer Mile with a load of micro breweries under the arches many of the beers look and taste the same though.
 
HughJanus said:
Speaking as a fat old bloke that does like draught beer in unhealthy quantities I find the craft brewers obsession with citrus hops from all over the place totally bizarre and to my taste down right horrible.
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topfox is right about making a beer flavor just for the sake of it, there really are some silly ones (just like bacon flavored ice cream is silly). The west coast ipa has been overhopped for 20 years over here (i really don't want to look like wile E coyote after eating alum when taking a sip) so now they're flooding the market with hazy ipa's and flavoured ones. i canna stand fruity flavored beer, or saison's but i have had the odd sour that actually tasted nice.

A few of my current favorites:
Ghost Town - Inhume 7%
Drakes - Denogginizer (which reminds me in name only of Baz's bonce blower) 9.75%
Henhouse - extra frozen envelope 8.1%
north coast - old rasputin 9%
russian river - pliny the elder 8%
 
I agree with Daggers - something like Everards Tiger in the low 4%'s is perfect for me. When on holiday, San Miguel, Mythos and Sagres all hit the spot, depending on where you are.
 
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